Blue Into Black
by AngelxPhoenix
Summary: Beth was a good girl, but something about Daryl Dixon made her want to be bad. Sequel to "I Don't Mind."


**Day two is out a little late, but it's here! The sequel I couldn't resist writing! The prompt for the day was "blue," and I hope you enjoy. :)**

Beth was the good girl. She kept her grades up, sang show tunes in the high school choir, volunteered in the church nursery every Sunday, and planned to become a pediatrician after college. She loved to please people, so she fell into the role they assigned to her, sweet and innocent young lady that did what was expected of her and never caused trouble.

She was a good girl, but something about Daryl Dixon made her want to be bad.

He looked rough enough to make her think twice about getting in that truck the first time she met him but everything he'd said and done since then proved he was anything but. He was sweet and humble, and Lord was he shy. She never would have expected that when she first met him and once they started spending more time together he'd kept being so shy she started to think maybe he didn't like her after all. It took a night of looking at the stars and getting each other off on the tailgate of his truck to change her mind.

She still found herself blushing whenever she thought of that night, how unsure she'd felt wondering _maybe he does, maybe he doesn't_ , scared he would shoot her down if she got a bit more direct, amazed she had the guts to bring it up in the first place...and both thrilled and terrified of what would happen if he felt the same about her as she did about him. Her heart rate kicked up a notch thinking of that hungry look in his eyes, at odds with the timidity and hesitation in his touch. And while his shyness had confounded her for so long, now it just turned her _on_.

They still didn't have any kind of normal relationship, but that didn't bother her. They were from such different worlds that having anything anyone else would call "normal" would mean bridging the gap between homegrown Bible Belt society and good-for-nothing white trash. Socs and greasers. She didn't want that drama and it wasn't fair to Daryl, so for now it was just him and her and their Romeo and Juliet rendezvous.

She liked thinking up alibis, sneaking out of the house, meeting up where no one would recognize them. She liked getting to be alone with him where they could kiss and touch. She liked letting him go down on her and when she offered to return the favor, she liked that too. He never treated her like a child, or tried to put her in a box of his own expectations of what she should and shouldn't be. He just accepted her for whoever she decided to be, and for once she decided to be herself. She liked that the best.

It was a relief, to be honest, after spending the day among everyone with their shallow ideas of who she was, be it farm girl, teacher's pet, church babysitter or what have you, to get out with Daryl and just be Beth. She never realized how much she needed that until he gave it to her and she ran to it every chance she could. Ran to _him_ , like nothing was gonna stop her, and the way she was growing to feel about him, she was starting to think nothing could.

They were sitting on the hood of his truck, leaning back against the windshield and watching the sunset. It had been a long day for both of them, him at the repair shop he worked at and her with a full day of classes and only a few weeks until finals, and they both needed a break. It was perfect weather and the sun still had a ways to go before it disappeared, and it was good to just share the evening with no demands on either of them.

She looked over at him, swinging one leg off the side of the truck and chewing absently on his thumb, and said, "Fortunately, the sun is really pretty right now."

He hummed and replied, "Unfortunately, it's gonna be gone soon."

She'd grown up playing this game with her brother and sister and it seemed kinda silly the first time she talked Daryl into playing, but it became something they kept coming back to and she wasn't always the one to start, so she guessed he didn't mind. "Fortunately," she continued, "the fireflies are coming out."

"Unfortunately, so are the mosquitoes."

"Fortunately, they're always out and you can get used to them."

"Unfortunately, they're still aggravating as shit."

She couldn't think of a good response to that, so she said, "Switch."

"Dixon, one. Greene, zero," he remarked with a little smirk. "Fortunately, I'm not worried about keeping score."

"Unfortunately," she said, "you're still keeping score anyway."

"Fortunately, I can't count worth a damn and will lose track, we play long enough."

"Unfortunately, I know you're lying."

"Fortunately, that's not against the rules."

"Unfortunately, that's not playing fair."

"All's fair in love and war, sweetheart."

"Did you just lose on purpose to tell me you love me?"

He froze and turned, staring hard at her, and she couldn't tell how badly she'd screwed up. She was only joking, trying to tease him, but she should have known better. Daryl didn't tease, not like that, and she knew him well enough to know he wouldn't like her making a joke of that idea. He might even take it as a trick to get him to admit to feeling something he might not be ready to admit to, or might not feel at all. She'd pushed him along enough, eventually he was bound to push back.

She didn't know what that look he gave her was, but it didn't feel good. There was shame, resentment, and a little bit of hurt mixed together, turning his soft blue eyes hard and steely. "I didn't...it was a joke," she said, trying to backpedal. "Just forget it, it's fine."

"That a joke to you?" he asked, his voice sharper than she'd ever heard it.

"No, of course not! I'm sorry, I wasn't-wasn't trying to be serious-"

He slid off the truck without another word and paused a moment before climbing into the cab and slamming the door behind himself.

She sat and stared after him for a moment, at a loss for what to do and still not sure why he was so upset. Or even how upset he was. He had to give himself distance, or at least the illusion of it, so it was pretty bad, right? She hesitated, then climbed off the hood and went to the passenger side, getting into the truck and shutting the door before speaking. "Daryl, I-"

"Don't," he said. "Just...don't, 'kay?"

"No, Daryl. I'm sorry. I just, wasn't thinking-"

"Beth, stop."

She fell silent, turning away and biting her lower lip. A lump unexpectedly came to her throat and her eyes felt hot, and God, she didn't want to cry right now...

"Shit."

He said it so quietly she wasn't sure she even heard it. Blinking furiously because those tears were coming anyway, damn it, she slowly glanced over at him to see him with his head hanging, eyes cast down so she couldn't see their expression. "'M sorry," he said. "Wasn't trying to make you cry."

"I'm not," she denied stubbornly, trying to wipe her eyes where he wouldn't see. "I didn't mean to upset you-"

"I ain't upset, Beth," he interrupted. "Really. It's just...hell, I don't even know."

She kept watching him and he kept not looking at her, and silence prevailed for several long, awkward minutes. She was still trying to hold off tears and he eventually slouched farther into the seat, chewing on his thumb again and looking like he was thinking long and hard about something. He thought long and hard enough that she started to worry what he was going to say when he spoke. Maybe...maybe he was going to decide she was just an obnoxious, immature, overeager kid and not worth fooling around with anymore. Maybe he'd enjoyed their time together but was getting tired of her playing around. He _was_ older than her, after all, and had a lot more experience than she did. Compared to the other women he'd been with, she had to seem like a joke.

"Beth," he said, "I don't...I dunno how to say this..."

Her heart sank and she almost lost the battle with her tears. _Here_ _it_ _comes..._

Well, whatever he had to say, she would listen with as much dignity and maturity as she could muster. She could at least do that much.

"Last person...last person I said anything like that to was my brother when we were still kids. He told me to shut the hell up, stop acting like a pussy. Think the last person to say it to me was my mom, and she's been dead for a long time now."

She was listening, like she'd promised herself, but she was confused. Where was he going with this? "What about-what about your dad?"

He made a harsh noise in his throat that sounded too bitter to be a laugh. "You don't wanna hear any of _that_ shit," he replied. "Trust me."

"Daryl, I don't know-"

"'M saying that it wasn't something we did at my house. Didn't grow up hearing it, never really said it to nobody. Wasn't even something I thought about after awhile." He got quiet again and she couldn't tell if he was just collecting his thoughts or struggling with the words.

She shifted around in the seat, trying her best to imagine how he must have grown up. She'd had parents, siblings, friends, none of them the least bit shy in telling each other how they felt. That word permeated every day of her life. It was _normal_. And for Daryl, it sounded anything but, a thought that filled her with horror and empathy. What must his life have been like that she didn't know about? "But...you must have had a girlfriend," she said, trying to make it a statement rather than the question it sounded like.

"Nah," he said without hesitation.

Her eyes widened. Why did that seem even more shocking? "What?"

"Never really liked being around people," he told her. "Kept to myself as much as I could."

That kinda made sense. It wasn't the easiest thing in the world to get him out of his shell and she already knew how shy he was-

Wait.

"Daryl," she asked as the thought occurred to her, "have you ever-are you-are you a virgin?"

There was that hard look again, though now he looked more shocked and incredulous this time. "What the fuck's that got to do with anything?" he demanded.

"Nothing," she said immediately, her face getting hot with embarrassment. "It's none of my business. I shouldn't have asked, I just...well, I just wondered..."

He didn't seem angry, but it took him awhile to answer. "No," he said, "I'm not. But I...shit, Beth, I never-oh, fuck..."

"It's okay," she said gently. "Just take your time, or don't tell me if you don't want to. It's up to you, Daryl."

He looked so grateful it made something in her chest ache, and after a deep breath he started again. "I never really wanted to. I just wanted Merle off my back about it, couldn't keep listening to his shit without losing mine. I was at some party he dragged me to, drunk off my ass, and he comes up with his arm around some girl 'bout as drunk as I am. Says, 'we're gonna make a man outta you, baby brother.' They haul me off to an empty room and Merle shuts the door, next thing I know she's coming at me, and-"

He broke off, running his hand over his face and staring out the window.

Beth didn't know what to say. The words hurt, but not nearly as much as the quiet shame and dejection in his voice. She wanted to reach out and comfort him, but... _should_ she? She was suddenly acutely conscious of his boundaries in a way she'd probably taken for granted before now. Oh God, what if _she'd_ pushed him into something he didn't want to do?

"Don't remember a lot of it," he admitted. "Didn't last very long, I think. She left the room complaining she didn't get hers, saying she was gonna find better dick somewhere else. Merle heard her and probably woulda beat the shit outta her if I hadn't held him back. Still hadn't even got my damn pants back up."

"Daryl..." Damn it, she was going to cry after all. Her eyes watered and broke, trailing hot tears down her face. He looked back at her and shook his head. "Beth, please stop..." He scooted towards her and held his arm out to her and she moved across the seat to his side, putting her arms around him and feeling his go around her. "It ain't no big deal," he told her. "It's just something that happened a long time ago. I don't want you to cry about it."

"I'm sorry," she told him, sniffing. "I just...God, Daryl, I'm so sorry you went through that..."

He shrugged. "Thought about it for awhile. Wasn't really hurt by it, not _really_ hurt. Humiliated, more than anything, and that was just Merle being Merle. I was used to that shit outta him. Tried to avoid parties with him after that, though. Didn't always work."

"Did it ever happen that way again?"

"No. Whenever he pushed a girl at me and started busting my balls, I just kinda...went along with it. Figured that girl'd be better off with me than somebody else, in case she wasn't into it either."

They sat in silence again, albeit one very different than before. How was it they had started out playing a dumb game and watching the sun go down? She had stopped crying, but she still hurt for him and everything he'd gone through. "Why did you tell me?" she finally said.

"You asked."

"You could have just said yes or no."

"Yeah, but I don't mind you knowing."

His trust went a long way in easing the heartache she had for him, enough to give her the courage to ask, "Did I ever do that to you? Where you didn't want to do something with me, but you went along with it?"

"See, that-that's another reason for telling you. All of it. Beth, I...I didn't grow up hearing or saying the same things you did, and when I was with somebody, I didn't care about them or whatever we were doing, but...it's different with you. I don't wanna be anywhere else, I wanna be with you. And not just with you, but, y'know, _with_ you...if that's something you want, too. And yeah, Beth. I love you."

She felt...well...how _did_ she feel? Happy, relieved, excited, still a little sad, but mostly the other stuff. And one thing most of all. "I love you, too."

He squeezed her a bit tighter and kissed the top of her head, and when she looked up at him there was a small smile on his face, getting bigger a little at a time. "I love you," he repeated.

"Feels good saying it, don't it?" she asked, smiling back.

"Can't speak for both of us. Try it, find out."

"I love you, Daryl."

He leaned in and kissed her, soft and sweet, breaking away just enough to say one more time, "I love you. I mean it. Do you?"

The question was so innocent and earnest, but after everything he'd told her, she felt everything behind it. And she nodded. "Yeah. I do."

He sighed and leaned into her, pressing his forehead to hers, and she couldn't look into his eyes without getting lost in the joy and the wonder swirling around in the brilliant blue. "Got a lot I wanna say to you," he told her, "but I just...right now, I..."

"Yeah, Daryl?"

"God, Beth," he whispered, "I just want you so bad I don't know what else to do."

She felt butterflies in her stomach and heat in her blood and good Lord, she was _wet_. "Else?" she asked, lifting an eyebrow at him.

He hovered for a moment then reached for her hand, slowly guiding her along, letting her see where he was heading and giving her plenty of time to tell him to stop, until her hand was pressed to his cock. They both drew in the same shivery breath; he was at least as hard as she was wet, and her first, ridiculous thought was _That_ _'s_ _got_ _to_ _be_ _uncomfortable_ _in_ _those_ _jeans._ A lone giggle burst from her and his eyes searched hers anxiously. "Is that all right?" he asked.

In answer, she nodded and squeezed gently.

He let out a soft whimper and pulled her in for a kiss and she met him with an open, eager mouth. His hands tangled in her hair and she held him in her palm, outlining the length of his erection through the denim. He broke away and she chased after his lips, but he asked quietly and seriously, "You ever done this before?"

"Not with you," she replied. That might not have been the answer he was looking for, but it was the only one that mattered. He looked ready to question her but ended up kissing her again, hands moving from her hair to slip beneath her shirt, brushing across her warm skin. She went for his belt, fumbling with the buckle for a moment before reaching up to slide her hands underneath his leather vest and push it off his shoulders. He got his arms free of it, caught the hem of her shirt, and lifted it halfway over her head before he stopped. "Wait. I, uh, I don't have any...protection..."

He said the word so timidly she almost laughed. "Fortunately," she said, grinning, "my big brother was in Boy Scouts and he didn't mind teaching me a few things."

He stared blankly at her, stupefied. "Such as?"

She put off answering until she'd taken her purse out of the floorboard and dug out the condom she'd stashed there awhile ago, just in case. "Always be prepared."

He laughed in surprise and came back in for another kiss.

It was a bit of a struggle, trying to undress in the close confines of the truck. He knocked his elbow against the steering wheel twice before they edged away from the driver's seat for more room, and she had a run-in with the gear shift when she tried to get her jeans off. They fumbled awkwardly and laughed about it until it was just the two of them in their skin and her heart started racing, her body warm and aching. He rolled on the condom and his eyes met hers, pupils blown wide until the beautiful blue had disappeared into black, and her breath caught in her lungs at the sight.

They moved around on the seat, aligning their bodies, and she laid back and angled her legs apart with a little trepidation. He'd fingered her before, eaten her out a few times, but this...she wasn't scared or anything, but she held her breath in anticipation. He took himself in hand and she hoped he couldn't see her fingers trembling as she held herself open for him, but then he got closer and she could feel his entire body quivering and she realized he was just as nervous as she was. He hadn't cared before, never wanted this with anyone, but he wanted _her_ , and that thought was more overwhelming than anything else. "It's okay, Daryl," she assured him, "it's okay."

He let out a deep sigh and sank into her a little at a time, and there was nothing like the feeling of her body stretching to hold his, welcoming him, inviting him deeper. She nodded to encourage him on until he was buried to the root and couldn't go any farther and he held still a moment, eyes closed and breath shaking. "You feel so good," he murmured.

She didn't answer at first, certain her voice wouldn't allow her, finally managing a soft, "Go on."

His first thrusts were slow and careful, trying to find a rhythm. She drew in a long breath, never taking her eyes off him as he kept the pace deliberate and gentle, trying not to rush, determined not to hurt her. He faltered now and again, moving harder and faster as his pleasure rose, but he held himself back again, focusing on her. He'd rushed with those other women, no doubt about it, trying to get it over with, but he was taking his time with her, wanting her to enjoy it. He'd fucked her with his hands and his mouth, but he was making love to her with his cock.

She began to move with him, trying to give him everything he was giving to her, meeting him halfway for every stroke. His eyes snapped open and found hers without searching, like they'd practiced it a thousand times before. Somehow, they'd always ended up in each other's eyes at the moment of climax and it was always her favorite part, but the familiar feeling was joined with the feeling of having him inside her, of oneness, and each built off the other until she thought she was going to burst.

He was gasping and groaning, hand bracing himself against the door as he stared down at her. "Beth," he said, "Beth, you gotta-sweetheart, I can't-"

She nodded, licking her fingers and reaching between their bodies to her clit, and he moaned softly and pressed his lips to hers, kissing her feverishly. She worked quickly, trying to catch up to him, and her body responded almost immediately, tightening and tensing as she got closer and closer. He started to lose the rhythm, thrusting wildly, and he warned her more urgently, "Beth-"

"Almost there," she replied, "almost, Daryl, I'm-almost-"

She went over the edge with a cry, her body rising up to his and her legs tightening around his hips, trying to get him that much closer, and he followed soon after, calling out her name and barely catching himself before he collapsed on top of her.

She turned onto her side and he went with her obediently, neither of them ready to come apart yet. Her heart was still racing like it wasn't going to stop and as long as he was the cause, she didn't want it to. They were pressed so tightly together it was a wonder either of them had any room to breathe. He had his eyes closed, the slight tremor running through him the only motion he seemed capable of.

"I don't want to go home yet," she said after a moment.

He gave a short, breathless laugh as he opened his eyes again. "Damn, girl, I ain't driving anywhere anytime soon."

She laughed with him, feeling safe and content and so _loved_ , and she hoped he felt the same. "Fortunately, nobody drove past us, at least that we know of."

"Unfortunately, I doubt we woulda noticed if they had."

"Fortunately, I think you meant fortunately."

He smiled. "You're right, I think I did."

She lifted her hand to his face and fitted her palm to his cheek, feeling his stubble against her skin. "That's two to one," she reminded him. "You lose, Dixon."

"Hell, Greene," he said, kissing her forehead, the tip of her nose, then her lips, "I'll lose to you anytime you want."

 **See you later for day three, and don't forget to leave me some love!**


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